Rock for People (RfP) is one of the largest open-air summer music festivals in the Czech Republic. The festival began in 1995 in the town Český Brod, and in 2007 it was moved to an unused airport in Hradec Králové. The festival features Czech and international acts of various genres, most prominently alternative rock, pop rock, punk rock, and EDM, and has also featured various workshops and recreational activities. Headlining acts have included Muse, Thirty Seconds to Mars, Arctic Monkeys, My Chemical Romance, the Offspring, the Killers, Paramore, and Massive Attack.
The Smetana’s Litomyšl festival is the second oldest music festival in the Czech Republic, and at the same time it is among the largest regular classical music festivals held in the country.
It mainly features opera performances and concerts, as well as gala concerts, oratorios, cantatas and song evenings; that is forms in which vocal artistry dominates. However symphonic, instrumental and chamber music are not ignored and in the venues here there are ballet performances and church music as well as promenade concerts and other genres. Every year at the festival practically all the top Czech interpreters perform, the three national theatres, all the significant orchestras and choirs and the best conductors, soloists and instrumentalists. And even though there are many significant foreign guests (among others Katia Ricciarelli, Sherill Milnes, Bernd Weikl, Kurt Rydl, Sergej Larin, Neil Shicoff, Torsten Kerl, Sumi Jo, Kate Royal, Marcello Giordani, Thomas Hampson, Oksana Dyka ...) Smetana’s Litomyšl has retained its Czech character and so is truly a national festival.
The centre of the festival is the wonderful Litomyšl State Castle, which in 1999 was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List. The main events are held mostly in the acoustically excellently prepared second courtyard with its unique retractable roof, as well as in the castle riding hall, in Litomyšl’s churches, in the Smetana Hall and regularly in selected places in the Pardubice region.
A visit to Smetana’s Litomyšl is no ordinary occasion, as aside from the interesting dramaturgy and the brilliant performances it offers a chance to stay away from the metropolitan hustle and bustle in a place with its own unique spirit.
Every year, the Summer Music Festival For the Treasures of the Broumov Region attracts exceptional evening concerts by Czech and foreign artists in the unique atmosphere of Baroque churches. The genius loci of the Broumov region, Benedictine history and architecture set in a beautiful landscape, all combined with classical music create a unique atmosphere of the festival. Concerts are usually held every summer Saturday from 6 pm, always in one of the Broumov churches. Admission to the concerts is voluntary and the proceeds are intended for the care of the churches in which the concerts take place.
The aim of the festival is to popularize classical music in all its forms to the general public, to draw attention to the state of these churches and help those who seek to save them, and also to enable young top performers of classical music to perform in non-traditional churches of the Broumov group.
